The Sweetest Aria
by Snow Whitex Prince Charming
Summary: Maybe it was a sign, that The Fates at long last had decided to end their game of torture and misfortune that they had played with his life until now, putting this beautiful creature in his path to transform his life forever. Erik/OC


Erik watched silently from box five, it had been two months since Christine had left him in his lair beneath the Opera Populaire. They thought him gone; they thought him dead no doubt. Which is what he wanted, Erik watched the chorus girls rehearse. They all looked so uniform, like a thousand reflections moving in tandem. Suddenly one of the girls stumbled, falling to her knees, interrupting the synchronous movement of the other girls. The girl intrigued Erik, she was far too clumsy to be a dancer, and she hung her head as if ashamed of her mistake. Dark curls —the color of calligraphy ink— spilled forward like a curtain hiding her face from view. Madame Giry banged her cane against the stage —a sharp, unpleasant sound— at the sight of the girl. The chorus girls halted and Madame Giry strode towards the girl at a brisk clip. In one sharp, fluid movement Madame Giry grabbed the girl's arm and hauled her to her feet. Straining as far as he dared from the shadows of box five, Erik leaned forward to catch Madame's words.  
"Insolent girl! You are a disgrace! Such ronds de jambe! Such temps de cuisse! Why are you even here?" The girl trembled, looking very much like a small child on the stage,

"Please Madame, let me try again… I- I promise I'll do better." She managed to squeak out.

"Why are you here?" Madame Giry said firmly, the girl bit her lip and looked like she was about to cry.

"I know I'm a horrible dancer, this wasn't my original dream, I want to be a singer, but I'm not good enough. Please Madame, I know I can do better if you just let me try!" Erik could see the tears in her smoky blue eyes now. Madame regarded the girl coldly,

"No. Absolutely not! You are a disgrace to the art of dancing! If you desire to be a singer hire a teacher and learn the art of song, but get off my stage." The girl burst into tears, and with that Madame called the other chorus girls away, they all followed. All except for Meg Giry, Madame Giry's daughter was a promising dancer she hurried now to the poor girls side,

"Do not worry, you are a beautiful singer. You just need to strengthen your voice," Meg told the girl. "Sing something for me now," the girl shook her head weakly.

"No, no I'm not good enough Meg, you know I'm not good enough!" She said, "M. Firmin and M. André said so themselves!" Meg shook her head,

"What do they know? They wouldn't know a true singing talent if it slapped them in the face!" Meg's eyes flickered briefly to box five when the girl wasn't looking; confirming that she knew Erik was there. "Besides, there is no one around but you and me to hear you sing, now go on. You told me once that you saw Christine Daae perform as Elissa in "Hannibal" on this very stage, do sing Elissa's aria. I hear you humming it under your breath often enough and it is so beautiful." The girl shook her head once more but Meg clutched her hands tightly,

"Tara, please." Erik smiled to himself, _Tara_. A perfectly beautiful name, the home of "The Stone Of Destiny" where the Irish Kings resided, maybe it was a sign, that The Fates at long last had decided to end their game of torture and misfortune that they had played with his life until now, putting this beautiful creature in his path to transform his life forever.

The brunette sighed and moved to center stage. Meg grinned as Tara collected her thoughts, without any introduction to work by Erik watched enraptured as she began to sing, softly at first then crescendoing almost expertly into the high notes and decresendoing into the low notes fluently. Her voice wavered only slightly, and she needed to work on keeping the nice warm sound she had in her lower register while in her upper register, but as she picked up confidence she sounded heartbreakingly beautiful. She beautifully cresendoed into the ending of the song. And it took everything in Erik not to applaud her. Meg did in his stead.

"That was beautiful! Absolutely beautiful!" Meg cried "Bravo, bravo, bravissimo!" Tara allowed a small smile to tug at the corner of her mouth,

"Do you really think so?" She asked something like hope in her voice,

"Truly! It would not surprise me if you become the leading soprano!" A full smile graced Tara's face and she laughed, a wonderfully musical sound.

"How silly you are Meg! I'll never be good enough to be the lead soprano or even the lead alto! Now I must be gone, before Madame Giry realizes I'm still here and you are not in rehearsal." Just then Madame Giry's sharp voice rang out.

"Meg Giry." Meg jumped startled, she turned towards Madame Giry with a deepening blush of embarrassment at being caught. "Are you a dancer?" Madame Giry asked sharply, Meg could barely meet her mother's eyes, as if she'd answered Madame said in a frigid tone.

"Then come and practice!" Meg nodded giving Tara's hand a final squeeze before she hurried off to join the other dancers. Madame then turned her sights on Tara, who still stood center stage with a terrified look upon her face,

"And you," Madame said looking the poor girl up and down critically, Tara squirmed slightly under Madame Giry's intense gaze. Everyone who crossed her path knew Madame Giry was a rather harsh looking woman; she dressed entirely in black, for reasons of mourning or otherwise was unknown. The severity of her features not being helped at all by the tight bun in which her graying hair was pulled into. Not a hair dared stray from its place,

"Get off of this stage this minute and go search for a good voice teacher, with an insane amount of luck you may be rehired as a singer."

"Please, Madame Giry I need this job! It is my only source of income!" Tara cried desperately.

"That is neither my problem nor my concern, now go before you try my patience and throw you out into the street myself!" Utterly defeated, Tara left the theatre and Madame Giry glanced briefly at box number five before she returned to rehearsal.

"A singer," Erik mused to himself, "I think I can work with that." And without another word he swept back to the darkness of the world below the opera house.

_**Hi! This is my first POTO story, so I really don't know if I read any of the character's right particularly Madame Giry. I don't know she just seems kind of cold and the type of person who would fire you on the spot if she found out you were a terrible dancer... I don't know, if I didn't do it right I'd love to know! Please review! **_


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